Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae, Series B, Natural History, 60 (3–4): 61–112 issued December 2004 Sborník Národního muzea, Serie B, Přírodní vědy, 60 (3–4): 61–112 DEVONIAN BRACHIOPODS OF THE TAMESNA BASIN (CENTRAL SAHARA; ALGERIA AND NORTH NIGER). PART 1 MICHAL MERGL Department of Biology, University of West Bohemia, Klatovská 51, Plzeň, 30614, Czech Republic; e-mail:
[email protected] DOMINIQUE MASSA Universite de Nice 6, Rue J. J. Rousseau, Suresnes, 92150, France Mergl, M., Massa, D. (2004): Devonian Brachiopods of the Tamesna Basin (Central Sahara; Algeria and North Niger). Part 1. – Acta Mus. Nat. Pragae, Ser. B, Hist. Nat. 60 (3-4): 61-112. Praha. ISSN 0036-5343. Abstract. The Devonian brachiopod fauna from samples collected by the late Lionel Lessard in the sixties from several secti- ons of the Lower Palaeozoic bordering the Tamesna Basin (Algeria and North Niger, south of the Ahaggar Massif) is descri- bed. The fauna is preserved in siliciclastic rocks, often lacking fine morphological details that are necessary for the determination of the fauna. Despite this difficulty, in total 40 taxa have been determined to generic, species or subspecies le- vels. One new chonetoid genus Amziella is defined on newly described species A. rahirensis. The new species Arcuaminetes racheboeufi, Montsenetes pervulgatus, Montsenetes ? drotae, Pustulatia lessardi, Pustulatia tamesnaensis, Eleutherokomma mutabilis, Mediospirifer rerhohensis and the new subspecies Tropidoleptus carinatus titanius are described. The Pragian age is suggested for the earliest brachiopod association, with maximum spread and diversity of the brachiopod fauna in Late Em- sian – Early Eifelian interval. The youngest Devonian brachiopod fauna in the available samples is probably of the Givetian age.